​19 June 2020
Today is the last day that you can provide input into the Council’s Emergency Budget. The coronavirus crisis has severely impacted the Council’s revenue, leaving them with a $500M hole in revenue that had not been anticipated in the earlier budget. They are now considering how to deal with this and are looking for input from residents.

Normally, we try to pressure the Council to first look for savings internally before proposing large rates increases. Under the current circumstances, however, any cuts will result in job losses which will compound a slowing economy, making it harder for NZ to recover. We therefore recommend continuing with the proposed 3.5% rates increase, and primarily covering the revenue hole by borrowing more. If there is ever a time to increase debt, it is during a short-term downturn such as this, when the increased borrowings can allow continued spending which in turn helps the economy recover, and subsequently allows for earlier repayments.

We believe that the Council should also look at trimming further waste and at selling assets that we do not absolutely need to own, but the primary way to bridge the gap should be through increased debt.

Click on this link to  give your feedback
https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/have-your-say/topics-you-can-have-your-say-on/emergency-budget/Pages/default.aspx

YESSSSS!  Level 2!  This step gets us a long way back towards normal, but not all the way yet.  There is still some risk, so we need to keep using common sense and hopefully we can banish this virus forever.

Lockdown has stopped or slowed a lot of things, but here are a few updates on local issues that you might find interesting.
 In this issue:

• Mission Bay development status
• Temporary cycleways on Tamaki Drive
• Selwyn Reserve playground renewal
• Our new Facebook group

Update on Mission Bay development
The proposed 8 storey development in the Mission Bay village continues to slowly work its way through the system.  You will recall that the resource consent application for this development was declined by the Auckland Council Hearing Panel last year, after which the developer appealed to the Environment Court.  The Environment Court requires the parties to participate in mediation to see whether a compromise solution is possible, and this was held over two days prior to the lockdown. The outcome of the mediation was that no acceptable compromise was found, and so the project now proceeds to the Environment Court.

During the first day of mediation, the parties opposed to the development (Auckland Council, Mission Bay Kohimarama Residents Association, Support Mission Bay Inc., and two private residents) laid out their primary objections again.  In particular, we were concerned about the visual impact of the development when approaching Mission Bay from Patteson Ave and Tamaki Drive, where the development would look totally out of character with the surrounding area.  We also outlined serious concerns over the apparent bulk of the development.

The developer undertook to review their design to see whether they could reduce those impacts.  They came back by the second day of mediation with a modified proposal which slightly reduced the height of some of the buildings and changed the appearance of the blank concrete wall facing south towards Patteson Ave.  Unfortunately they left the 8 storey building at the original height, and removed both the movie theatre and the second level of restaurants.  We saw this as a poor compromise; it made minimal improvements to the visual impacts while removing most of the public benefits of the development.  We, along with the other parties, rejected the compromise.

So now we go to the Environment Court.  The developer has now decided that they want to pursue their alternative design, and so will spend the next few months developing the new plans.  After that, we will get an opportunity to review the new design and submit our evidence relating to it, and then we have a court hearing.  This is expected to be early next year.

We find it hard to believe that the developer would even consider modifying a design for a Local Centre Zone in a way which removes local centre services and results in much less restaurant space than we have already, making the development almost purely a collection of apartment blocks.  But that is the approach they are taking and so we will need to engage our experts again to review the new plans and be prepared to testify in court.

We will share the new design once it is available.

 
Temporary cycle lanes on Tamaki Drive
You will have noticed a line of cones and “no parking” restrictions around the points between the bays on Tamaki Drive.  This AT’s attempt to create temporary cycleways to relieve congestion on the existing shared path.

With nice weather and limited places to exercise, the crowds trying to use the combined cycling and walking path make it difficult to keep a safe separation.  The initial implementation of the new lanes was poor, with the “No Parking” signs blocking the lane, no signs to indicate what the new lane was for, and nothing to indicate cyclists could not use the existing shared path.  However AT quickly removed the signs blocking the lane, so it is now available for cyclists to use.  So far very few cyclists are using the lane, but it is there for us all to use, so please make use of it in particularly when the shared path is busy.

 
Mission Bay playground renewal
As we move into Level 2, playgrounds will be reopened.  Many of you will have noticed that the Selwyn Reserve playground has been looking a bit sad lately, with several items of play equipment broken or unable to be used.  The Orakei Local Board (OLB) has a plan to deal with this and has engaged a playground design firm to redesign and replace the existing playground.

As always, you get what you pay for, and so the OLB is considering where the best balance point is between cost and quality.  We will let you know when a design is available for review.

 
Our Facebook group and website
We established a Facebook group recently, Mission Bay -Kohimarama Residents Association. The intent is to provide both a way for us to communicate with residents, and for residents to engage and discuss issues that impact our area. A group like this is only useful to the extent that people use it, so we encourage you to join the group and to raise any issues you would like to see discussed.  You can find the group here.

We also continue to upgrade our website.  One area of interest is the section we have put together on the history of Mission Bay and Kohimarama.  This is a work in progress, but already includes lots of old photos from the 1800s through to the 1980s.  It also has a simple timeline of major historical events in the area going back to pre-European times, and contains links to various historical articles and documents.

Take a look, and let us know anything that should be added (or corrected).



 
Best regards

Don Stock
Chair
Mission Bay Kohimarama Residents Association
 



Contact us
Mail: PO Box 133050, Eastridge, Auckland 1146
Website:  www.missionbaykohi.co.nz
Email:  [email protected]

Just a quick update on a couple of developments over the past few days..
In this issue:

• Upcoming events
• Our new Facebook presence
• Update on AT safety measures for Mission Bay
• What's happening at the Nehu St triangle?
• Mission Bay development status

 
Upcoming events
Christmas Carols on the Green
Today (Sunday 1 December) we have the Christmas Carols on the Green event at Vellenoweth Green, St Heliers.  This event starts at 5pm.  For more information, click here.

World Championships 49er and 49er FX classes
You may have noticed a lot more yachts racing off Kohimarama, Mission Bay and Okahu Bay lately. This is because the World Championships for the 49er and 49er FX classes are being held here in a few days. The boats are based at the Royal Akarana Yacht Club at The Landing.
The first real racing starts on Tuesday 3 December, but practice racing has been going on for some time already.
You may remember that Peter Burling and Blair Tuke are the reigning World Champions, and are keen to defend their title.
For further information, click on this link.
 
Our Facebook group and website
We have a Facebook Group,the Mission Bay -Kohimarama Residents Association.  While this has been around for some time, it has not been run by us until very recently.  We intend to use this to post frequent bits of information that might be of interest to our members, and to get the views of residents about a range of issues.  Check it out, join the group, and feel free to post on whatever subject you are interested in.  Membership of the group is of course free, and there are no commitments, so just go ahead and join.

We also continue to upgrade our website.  We have added an Event Calendar which sets out upcoming events in this area.  Feel free to contact us to add events that you think would be of interest to our members.

Another area of interest is the section we have put together on the history of Mission Bay and Kohimarama.  This is a work in progress, but already includes lots of old photos from the 1800s through to the 1980s.  It has a simple timeline of major historical events, going back to pre-European times, and contains links to various historical articles and documents.  Take a look, and let us know anything that should be added (or corrected).

 Auckland Transport safety measures for Mission Bay
The Working Group is making progress on determining what measures will improve safety without unduly compromising traffic flow.

The Residents Association is represented on this group.  In order to decide what options are good or bad, we have a few key principles:

1. We are residents here, and are pedestrians or cyclists in the area more often than we are motorists.  Of course anything which improves pedestrian or cyclist safety is a good thing.
2. Having said that, we also accept that Tamaki Drive is a major commuter thoroughfare, and traffic must continue to flow.
3. Pedestrian crossings make it safer for pedestrians to cross, but also give pedestrians the power to stop traffic anytime they wish, thereby creating severe traffic disruption.  New crossings must therefore be considered very carefully.
4. Conversely, pedestrian refuges make it safer for pedestrians to cross, but because pedestrians still have to give way to traffic, they do not disrupt traffic flow.
5. Restricting speed through the town centre to 30km/h as has already been decided by AT will mean that any accidents should have lower potential for serious injury.
6. To enforce the lower speeds, AT typically puts in speed humps  or raised pedestrian crossings which are difficult to drive or ride over at anything over 10km/h.  We believe that is inappropriate.  However, we note that the speed humps by Kelly Tarltons allow comfortable driving at 30km/h and so would not be averse to this kind of speed enforcement device in Mission Bay.

Based on these principles, we are working with the rest of the Working group to come up with a sensible solution that will balance the goal of keeping pedestrians safer while keeping traffic flowing.  We hope to have some options ready to go out to the public for their comments early in the new year.
 
What's happening at the Nehu St Triangle in Orakei?
There has been a lot of construction activity on this small reserve, and I am sure many people are wondering what is going on.

It is quite simple.  This area is being temporarily converted into a staging area for the Okahu Bay waste water separation project.  This project aims to dramatically improve the water quality of Okahu Bay by separating the storm water from waste water so as to not overflow the system every time it rains.

You can read more about the project here.

Latest update on Mission Bay development
As previously reported, the resource consent application for the Mission Bay 8 storey development has been declined by a panel of commissioners, and the applicant has appealed against this decision to the Environment Court.

The Council must now defend their decision.  In addition, four groups have registered as parties to the proceedings, to ensure that their views and concerns are recognised.  One of those parties is the Mission Bay Kohimarama Residents Association.  We intend to take this right through to the Environment Court to ensure that our expectations for our suburbs as defined in the Unitary Plan are not undermined by some kind of deal on the way through.

The first major milestone is that all parties will shortly be invited to participate in mediation.  This is likely to be scheduled around February.  Prior to that, we will try to gauge the feeling of the community on this project so that we can speak with authority when representing the community interests.
 

Best regards

Don Stock
Chair
Mission Bay Kohimarama Residents Association
 



Contact us
Mail: PO Box 133050, Eastridge, Auckland 1146
Website:  www.missionbaykohi.co.nz
Email:  [email protected]